Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-10-01

ADVANTAGES OF STEAM MOTORS
The presentation OF the petition to tn,
Council circulated last week and published
in the papers, asking that body to permit
the Butte Street Railway Company to u.s.
the noiseless exhaust steam motor, ha,
been deferred for the present to enable tn,
projectors OF the enterprise to collect al
the data in their power to produce tn,
most invincible array OF facts in thei
favor. Messrs. Porter & Co.. the maker
Of the patent spoken OF before the Council,
have informed the company that the noise
less exhaust passenger locomotive is al
work and giving perfect satisfaction hauling
street cars in the streets OF San Diego, Cal.
Birmingham. Ala, and New Orleans. II
any one OF these towns. these engines ART
more in danger Of proving q menace to We.
hicles drawn by horses than in Butte.
Why? Simply because any ono of these
cities is surrounded by an agricultural re.
gion whence the farmers in their wagons
come into town, more or less, every day to
do their trading. Does any one pretend
to say that the number of strange horses
coming into Butte the whole year round il
as many as visit q CITY like New Orleans
from the surrounding country in one week?
How many ranchers from Silver Bow
County bring truck into the Butte; market
to sell in a week or month even? And il San
Diego and New Orleans find no cause OF
complaint in their crowded thoroughfares
from the use OF the noiseless exhaust mo.
tor, what possibility is there that they
would be q cause OF danger to animals in
Butte? 1t is not the horses OF a city from
which trouble is to be apprehended. Liv.
ing in a constant noise AID hustle, accus-
toned to hearing strange sounds on every
side, here in Butte regarding unmoved the
rasping noise OF the wood saw in all quar-
tiers Of the city and passing it undiemayed
on the streets with the smoke blowing in
clouds from its smokestack, they are indu.
rated to unusualsounds and may be said to
regard them with equanimity. They become
easily accustomed to novel objects.
But to show that the prejudice shown
against the steam motors introduction
here is no shared in populous communi-
ties elsewhere, the recent action OF the City
Council OF San Francisco may be quoted to
disabuse the opponents OF these useful
agents in street-car traction in cities OF the
false impression they entertain. The dunn
mics are already in use there on suburban
~&ol u@ that <ho T1pnnsIo.. ~ O. d.
cisco cannot be said to be ''eoing it blind"
An order passed that body at q recent ses-
sion granting q franchise to construct
and operate for twenty-five years a street
railroad commencing at California and Sew
enth avenue and running thence along the
avenue to the north line of Golden Gate
Park, it being specified that for the frst
eleven years the holders Of the franchise
may pfopel their cars by steam dummies.
Satisfied of their harmlessness to stock in
the crowded streets OF that populous city,
the Council expressly grants the projectors
OF the enterprise permission to use dummies
on their line for eleven years. Surely this
onght to be evidence sufficient for the mem
bers OF our Council to feel warranted in as
Stunning that what is not regarded as OBJ
noxious on the crowded streets OF San
Francisco will be no detriment to the pub
lie welfare in the streets of Butte.
The Omaha Bee wal quoted by the Inter
Mountain On Monday in an extract which
showed the results on a suburban road near
Omaha, OF what ia spoken OF as q ''steam
street railroad" The stampede it created
is just a little too graphically painted to
be taken without salt, and the Bee repor- |
ter is evidently describing a machine en-
tirely different from the one proposed to
be used here, using the inconsistent express
sion that "a dummy steam locomotive, |
and Kissing" passed by him. The
dictionary describes a dummy as "a loco.
motive with ccndensing engines, and,
hence, without the noise of escaping
steam" The machine in use
in Omaha is evidently an ordinary loco.
motive, without the noiseless exhaust and
the box covering in which the
machine proposed for use here looks Just
10 innocent as u street car.
There is another feature in the use OF this
not, r which the Butte Street Railway pro.
ectors have in view that will still further
it's introduction here. 1t ia
The intention Of these gentlemen, if per.
nitted it's use, to lay the track past the
ace track to one Of the canyons where a
for those eager to escape from the
'reeless aridity ofButte may find relief the
presence OF nature, so that for q ten-cent
are. by q quick trip. the tired denizen OF
he city, wearied with the mo%notony OF the
treets, could reach without dust or in.
q place where there are trees
nd grass. The immense benefits of this to
he many families OF small means who can.
ot afford to hire q vehicle need only be
ointed out to be apprehended. Running
y the race track, what q convenience for
that resort at the times when the
Aces are on. In fact, the subject is mex. {
austible, and the more the citizens a tlarge
effect upon the benefits to be derived from
means OF propulsion, its cheapness and I
elerity OF movement, the more they will q
esire to enjoy these benefits without 6
slay. '